In Amsterdam with Rituals

Last month I was invited to Amsterdam by Rituals Cosmetics which is a brand that I’ve been using since I was a teenager. When I found out last year that they were finally launching in Dubai I literally screamed of excitement. I had the privilege of learning more about the brand, experience the brand from the core and its birth place which is: Amsterdam. Along with learning more about their products, we did some cool activities too.

Our first visit was to the Rituals HQ and we got to meet one of the founders and CEO of the brand: Raymond Cloosterman. He gave us some insights on how he switched from a corporate job to following his passion and start Rituals. For his corporate job, Raymond had to travel around the world to get insights of beauty brands & trends for his corporate job. He went to research centres, power shopping in Tokyo, Paris and many more places. He was so inspired and motivated, that’s when he decided to leave his corporate job. I thought his story was very inspiring, leaving a well payed corporate job to pursue your dreams is very risky. The fact that he succeeded so well is a great example and motivation. Also, this goes to show how important traveling is, it changes you in many good ways.

Raymond was also inspired by the clothing brand Zara. They were the first fashion brand to produce high quality clothes sold for fair prices. No one was doing it with beauty and home products. He wanted to create accessible and beautiful things. Like Diptique at a fair price, that’s the reason why they’re growing so fast. Its nice to gift and to gift yourself. What Nespresso did to coffee, high quality experience for a fair price without breaking the bank. In this opinion, the price value is correct, high quality experience without being ripped and I couldn’t agree more!

Facts about the brand:

Rituals is an affordable luxury lifestyle brand

Inspired by Asian cultures: there’s a lot of respect for the past and their cultures

The brand started in a basement with 3 guys in the late 90’s.

They were passionate about changing routines

They were the first brand to have internet stations in the stores where you can online shop

Rituals wants to teach people to create moments of happiness

Their first store was in the Kalverstraat (in Amsterdam) and it still exists.

Today they have 650 stores in total. Opening 2/3 stores every week globally.

Planning to open 10 more stores in the Middle East.

All collections are globally available (including Middle Eastern inspired).

Royalties in Sweden and Holland are using Rituals products

Qatar airways’ first & business class provides rituals pyjamas

Lunch on a boat

One of the first things on the itinerary was a boat trip through Amsterdam as a little introduction. It was such a beautiful day, the weather was perfect for a boat trip through the canals. I got to see a side of Amsterdam and a few places that I’ve never seen before.

Fragrance workshop

We got a fragrance workshop at the coolest loft in Amsterdam which was located in the middle of the infamous flower market. I’ve learned so much about the kind of notes Rituals uses in their perfumes, where they get the ingredients from (mainly Grasse) and where they find inspiration from. I have never seen such a cool loft in real life! Everything was so perfect, the high ceilings, amount of cactuses and there was so much light. It was the perfect sport for a fragrance workshop.

Cycling through the city

How cool is this bike? It’s such a typical “Amsterdam” bicycle with the basket in front. On the way to the Rituals flagship store, we rode by bike which is also the best way to experience Amsterdam (in my opinion).

SHOP THE SAKURA COLECTION

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Najla Kaddour is a Dubai based make-up artist & blogger who is committed to providing the very best in makeup design and application. The premier make-up artist for the region’s most prominent personalities.